OPHIOGLOSSACEAE 



1. Ophioglossum vulgatum L. 



Adder's-tonsue. 



Fig-. 



1. 



1753. 



Ophioglossum- riilgatiim L. Sj). PL 1062. 



Ophioglossum areiiarium E. G. Britton, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 555. pi. 318, pi. 



319, f. 3. 1897. 

 Ophioglossum alaskanitm E. G. Britton, Bull. Torrey Club 24: 556. pi. 319, 



f. 5. 1897. 



Rhizome cylindrical, rather slender ; fronds usually solitary, 10-40 

 cm. long; common stalk mostly epigean, one-third to two-thirds the 

 total length of the plant; sterile blade usually sessile, flat, oblique, 

 lanceolate, oblanceolate or spatulate. elliptical, oblong, or ovate, 

 2.5-12 cm. long. 1-5 cm. broad, rounded or obtuse, sometimes 

 acutish, translucent when dry, the middle areoles long and narrow, 

 the outer ones successively shorter, hexagonal, with or without 

 included veinlets ; sporophyll 12-30 cm. long, the spike 2-4 cm. long, 

 1.5-3.5 mm. broad, apiculate ; sporangia 10-30 (50) pairs. 



Moist meadows, pastures, and thickets, mainly 

 in the Transition Zone; Maine and Quebec to 

 Alaska, south to the Gulf States and Washington; 

 also in Eurasia. Type locality: in Europe. 



2. Ophioglossum californicum Prantl. 

 Western Adder's-tongue. Fig. 2. 



ophioglossum californicum Prantl, Bericht. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 1: 351. 1883. 

 Rhizome cylindric, stout, 1-2 cm. long; fronds usually two, 3-11 

 cm. long; common stalk nearly all hypogean, 0.5-3 cm. long; sterile 

 blade sessile or subsessile, usually conduplicate (at least in the long- 

 tapering basal part), oblique, elliptic, lance-elliptic, or oblanceolate, 

 1.5-5 cm. long, 5-10 mm. broad, acute, frequently apiculate, opaque; 

 areoles narrow, with or without included veinlets; sporophyll 1.5-9 

 cm. long, the spike 0.5-2 cm. long, 1-3 mm. broad, conspicuously 

 apiculate; sporangia 8-15 pairs. 



Among grasses in moist, stony situations, Upper Sonoran Zone; Amador 

 County and high mesas near San Diego, California; also in Lower California 

 (Ensenada). Type locality: San Diego, California. 



2. BOTRYCHIUM Swartz, Journ. Bot. Schrad. 1800": 110. 1801. 



Fleshy terrestrial plants. Rhizomes hypogean, erect, relatively small, bearing few to 

 many fleshy often corrugated coarse roots, and frequently sheathed at the apex by the per- 

 sistent bases of old leaves ; fronds 1-3 ; common stalk wholly or partially hypogean, erect, 

 short to elongate ; sterile blade erect or bent down in vernation, sessile to long-stalked, 1-^ 

 times pinnately or ternately divided or compound, free-veined; sporophyll a long-stalked 

 simple spike or 1-5-pinnate panicle, erect, the large globose sporangia distinct, sessile or 

 nearly so, borne in 2 rows on the ultimate divisions ; spores copious, sulphur yellow. Bud 

 for the following year borne at the apex of the rhizome, enclosed within the base of the 

 common stalk, either wholly concealed or visible along one side. [Name alluding to the 

 grape-like arrangement of the sporangia.] 



About 25 species, chiefly natives of the temperate regions of both hemispheres, mostly found in the 

 United States. Type species, Osmunda^ lunaria L. 



Buds devoid of hairs. 



Common stalk about one-half to wholly hypogean. 



Rhizome slender, short; sterile blade distinctly stalked; sporoiihyll long-stalked, erect in verna- 

 tion. 1. B. simpler. 

 Rhizome stout, elongate; sterile blade sessile; sporophyll sessile or short-stalked, the tip recurved 

 in vernation. 2. B. pumicola. 

 Common stalk almost wholly epigean. 



Sterile blade lient down only at the tip in vernation, oblong to triangular-oblong; sporophyll 



straight or with the apex decurved in vernation. 3. B. lunaria. 



Sterile blade wholly bent down in vernation, triangular; sporophyll entirely bent down in 

 vernation. 4. B. lanceolatum. 



Buds hairy. 



Common stalk mostly epigean; bud of the following season exposed along one side; leaf tissue very 

 thin, with flexuous epidermal cells. 5. B. rirginianum. 



Common stalk all or nearly all hyjiogean; bud wholly enclosed; leaf tissue fleshy, with straight 

 epidermal cells. 



Blades coriaceous in drying, 10-30 cm. broad, broadly triangular or pentagonal, the seg- 

 ments crenulate. 6. B. silaifolinm. 

 Blades membrano-herbaceous in drying, 15-40 cm. broad, rounded-triangular or irregular in 

 outline, lax, the segments minutely denticulate. 7. B. californicum. 



